Customer Success is #FinallyHome in APAC

On Dec. 12, 2018, Gainsight invited the local Customer Success community to join us in Sydney for the first ever Pulse APAC. With 10 Pulses under our belt (six in the US and four in Europe), we’ve gotten pretty good at this. But, in a new geography, you just never know—so we ventured forth with a mixture of excitement and anxiety.

What is Pulse APAC?

Pulse APAC is the definitive event in Customer Success for the Asia-Pacific region. This year, over 400 Customer Success professionals gathered in Sydney, Australia to learn from speakers at companies like LinkedIn, Financial Force, and Influitive. With sessions, roundtables, and educational courses like Pulse Academy Live, Pulse APAC gives attendees the chance to learn from peers and thought leaders alike. You can learn about future Pulse events here.

Endless thank yous are in order

First off, we want to say thanks to the whole community in Australia, New Zealand, and beyond. They did not know what Pulse was or what it would be like, but they jumped in with both feet to help. Special thanks to the local CSM group, Customer Success Society. They encouraged their members to come, helped us find speakers, and generally built a ton of enthusiasm for the event. There are many who deserve to be named but a few we can’t leave out—Huey Le, Amelia Hayson, and Chris Jones.

We also took Pulse Academy Live to Sydney. PAL is our hands-on CSM training course that takes place the day before the main event. And what a success that was! We had to cut the attendance off at 135 because of the size of the room but almost half of the Pulse registrants would have come to Pulse Academy if we’d had more room. That was by far the largest attendance, percentage-wise, we’ve ever had for PAL. The Gainsight team was joined by special local guests who shared their knowledge and experience alongside. Thanks to Rachel Jennings and Amelia Hayson for contributing their time and talent to our efforts.

Feeling #FinallyHome in Customer Success

Overall, the energy and enthusiasm for the whole event were off the charts. Almost 400 Customer Success professionals and others outside of the field who were interested came to the main event. Not even five years ago, CSM wasn’t a job title and now it’s become the fastest growing job in Australia.

That could explain why Pulse APAC was positively buzzing with customer-obsessed people eager to become better at their craft. They were entertained and educated by some of the best and brightest Customer Success minds in the region. They also networked like there was no tomorrow. No matter where you are in the world, the Customer Success community wants to come together and they want to talk to each other. As I said in my opening keynote, Pulse is all about validation.

Every single person walks away knowing for sure that:

They are not alone

They are not stupid

They are not 5 years behind

Pulse APAC was no different. I heard from attendee after attendee how valuable it was to hear from others and to share their own stories. In every case, they discovered that they weren’t behind—in fact, they’re on par with or ahead of their peers. It’s always exhilarating to watch this process unfold as it has now for all 11 of our Pulse conferences.

So thanks to Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the rest of APAC for welcoming us into your territory and for participating in the annual party that we call Pulse. I can’t wait to see what lies ahead for all of us!

The Customer Success community is more of a family than any other business or market I’ve ever been a part of. It’s truly unique. One sentiment that has been expressed to me over the years is that, for so many people, it feels like the job they’ve been searching for, sometimes for a long while. At Pulse Europe in November, one of the attendees created a hashtag that gets right to the heart of this feeling—#FinallyHome. I shared that story with the attendees in Sydney because I know so many feel the same way and just need the chance to express it. And I offered this to all of them as I do to anyone reading this who has that same sense. #WelcomeHome.